July 1, 2022

1 Samuel 24:1-10 (HCSB)
David Spares Saul 24 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.” 2 So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s choice men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the back of the cave, 4 so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’ ” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way. 8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed to the ground in homage. 9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? 10 You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.

Mark Jenkins
In these verses, we back track a little as God reveals the heart of Jonathan, Saul’s son. Jonathan trusted God could do anything He pleased. Jonathan’s armor-bearer trusted Jonathan. Jonathan had a greater faith than Saul as demonstrated in these verses.  When God chose David to be the next King of Israel, He did not look for the best-looking, the strongest or the smartest, He looked at the heart. Jonathan reveals he trusted God with his heart and trusted the pathway that God gave him. As we saw before, tradition would have held that Jonathan would be King, after Saul…but God had different plans and Jonathan trusted God. Do you trust God in all things? Pray for His strength and wisdom and put your trust in Him!

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